[Andy Goodell:] | I heard that once upon a time people had fridges that only used | ice and no electricity
Ice used to be one of this area's major export products. Homer (I seem to recall) was the ice production capital of New York State. Most of this ice was destined for ice boxes in the big cities, of course, but a hundred years ago, every dairy farm around here had a cooling room and an ice house for storage. Ice harvesting was an important winter farming activity. Climate change has eliminated commercial ice export as a viable local post-carbon business, but is there still enough dependable pond ice around here in the winter to harvest for local summer cooling? I'm not clear on what thickness can still be counted on. (Ice houses relied on a lot of sawdust, and that might actually be the limiting factor now.) Jon _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
